May 2021

The De Jong family immigrated from the Netherlands in 2000 to an ongoing dairy farm in Watford, Ontario. After 20 years of working in their free stall and parlour facility, the family was excited to take the next step to help their farm move forward.

We had the opportunity to work with the De Jong family on designing and building a complete DLS turnkey operation. This project consisted of a tunnel ventilated DLS Structure with 5 GEA R9500 milking robots, DLS direct drive exhaust fans, DLS curtains, GEA manure equipment, Jourdain stabling, DLS tip troughs and a Maximus control system. There is room for a sixth robot within the center room.

With technology rapidly improving, the De Jongs felt confident with the decision to go with robots. The family said, “Robotic milking was a great option for us to milk cows more often without the extra labour that we otherwise would have had to perform ourselves or hire out. It provides a greater level of precise management that enables us to meet each cows’ needs and allows for more flexibility in day-to-day scheduling with other jobs on the farm.”

Naturally, after deciding to go with robotic milking, the next step is to choose which colour robot. In choosing GEA, the De Jongs said, “We went with the GEA robot because it showed itself to be a reliable machine with its quick one-time attachment and consistent in-liner prep system. The camera is only used once per cow for each milking, allowing for a quicker box time, and with the in-liner prep system, there is greater consistency for the cows’ milking experience. It also has the option to divert milk individually per quarter, and that can be based on different parameter settings or done manually, which allows for less wasted milk and provides higher quality milk.”

The DeJong’s very quickly saw an improvement in milk quality and an increase in milk production. With the increased milk production, they have been able to milk fewer cows, and they are confident they will see continued improvements in milk production. In terms of SCC, they used to run around 200,000 in the old barn, but it has been steadily decreasing. They are currently just over 100,000 with expectations to continue to decrease to be below 100,000.

The barn layout is a 6 row perimeter feed barn. This is quite common in robot barns, but this barn layout at A.H.E. Dairy is somewhat unique with its tunnel ventilation. Most 6 row perimeter feed robot barns in Southwestern Ontario are naturally ventilated. In recent years there has been more perimeter feed robot barns with tunnel ventilation around here. In parts of the USA, such as Wisconsin, this is more common to see among robot barns.

The De Jong’s said, “We went with tunnel ventilation to create an environment that would be best for the cows. During the summertime months, heat stress becomes a big issue for cow performance, and tunnel ventilation provides a great environment to allow the cows to perform all year round.” They also mentioned they were impressed with the air quality in the barn in the winter months with the ridge fans. These fans play an important role in a tunnel ventilated system to create an ideal environment throughout the year.

“Our cows have adjusted very well to the new barn, and the transition process went much better than we anticipated. Now over 3 and a half months in, we are very happy with the new barn and the GEA robots.” – The De Jong Family